"Inside the Petri Dish"

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As stated earlier in the year - we’ve given Founder & CEO Debra Cherney the opportunity to share thoughts on any topic of her choice. While many of them will be related to food safety, the one below is of excitement so please, read on!

To our Cherney community consisting of customers, colleagues, and industry friends. It is my extreme pleasure to share with you the announcement of Cherney’s new Chief Operating Officer (COO), Steve Kuchenberg, who officially starts with our organization on Monday, September 25th. Steve's extensive experience within our industry brings a new level of competence and technical expertise to our organization and while I’m personally very excited for him to lead our organization into the future, our team at Cherney will soon see how his passion for doing the right thing for those around him will quickly pass onto you our valued customers. Steve and I are in lockstep agreement about what actions will be taken to achieve our strategic vision for Cherney. A very exciting time is ahead, welcome Steve! - Debra Cherney

In our first edition of our quarterly CEO Corner – we’ve given Founder & CEO the opportunity to share thoughts on any topic. While many of them will be related to food safety, the one below is the perfect piece to awareness to Cherney and just one of the many core values that drives our team day in and day out. Enjoy!

Providing an unmatched level of customer service is the foundation upon which my company was founded. It is one of the main core values we strive to achieve every single day. Recently, I experienced an incident personally that reminded me of the importance of this value and how it impacts our continued success.

FOCUS. A simple word and concept, right? Although an easy idea, I find staying in a state of focus to be quite difficult. With demands of the modern workplace like multi-tasking, wearing many hats and shifting priorities, focus is vital to making progress and ultimately meeting objectives. One of Cherney’s strategic objectives for 2017 is to provide more technical training opportunities to our team, which supports the bigger goal of increasing employee engagement. Yesterday, in between preparing for our 2017 public training courses, we mapped out topics and a schedule to make that happen. Of course this is just a start, but the plan sets the stage for all the steps to follow.

One of the many KEY responsibilities when working in Food Safety is to provide an accurate result. This ensures that our customers’ products going out to the public are safe from bacteria and pathogens; organisms that could cause contamination, launch a recall and ultimately be detrimental to the customer and consumer.

In my travels as Sales Manager for Cherney Microbiological Services, it is my pleasure to speak with food safety professionals from companies of varying sizes and industries. In the last few years, FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) has taken a prominent role in our discussions of what is coming down the pipeline. Many large companies have established food safety plans and follow SQF, HACCP (or HARPC) or other programs of which regular product and environmental testing is already an integral component. This blog is not for those companies. This blog is for companies whose food safety programs haven’t caught up to the regulatory environment we find ourselves in.

If you are a Quality Manager who feels that your department is viewed by top management at your company as little more than an expense or if you are new to your position and looking for help, then I’m talking to you, too!

It has never been more evident than now in Food Safety. With the implementation of FSMA requirements comes new challenges; and the need to manage change becomes even more critical. How are you managing this demand?

It’s back to school season and my family is excited to share with our daughter the start of Kindergarten. This is also the perfect time to highlight something that many children take for granted – Lunch Box and Lunchtime Food Safety!

Working in the food industry makes childcare even more challenging. We are more aware of the numerous recalls and hidden microbial challenges that surround us. The “hot” or even “stinky” lunchbox that returns home after an 8 hour day at school screams to be cleaned! Recently – the USDA and FoodSafety.gov have highlighted some quick reminders to ensure our kids are eating safe lunches and help PARENTS feel more comfortable.

Each year - we anxiously await the end of the school year so that summer fun can officially begin. Sadly, in the midst of family vacations, camping excursions and garden harvesting, we realize that it is quickly flying by and fall is just around the corner.

With the end of July upon us, our Cherney team is headed to the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) conference in St. Louis, MO. A standard stop in our trade show itinerary, this conference is like coming home! We rekindle friendships, grow current relationships, meet new partners and take in four days of food safety-focused seminars and meetings. Attending the conference supports our commitment to stay current in industry knowledge and trends and keeps us at the forefront of new developments in lab testing and food safety.